Four/Five/Six Strings & The Truth

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downloads

This year I kept a log of all the music that I bought during the year. Initially I was recording how much it cost too, but that got a bit worrying so I decided to ignore that bit.

In 2017 I bought over 200 albums, mostly on CD format (some downloads). If that seems a lot, (if…ha!), Many of them were charity shop or Ebay bargains (but some weren’t.

A few of my Twitter friends have put out lists of their top albums of 2017, trouble is most of my purchases are not new music, I have been diligently plugging gaps in the classic Prog Rock collection, which now looks a lot healthier (and nerdier).

I dod get a handful of new albums too, so here is a selection of some of my favourites from 2017, some new, some not so new.

The new release from the Tim Crahart Blues Band is here at last! We are launching the album today via the Bandcamp website. It’s available in CD format and in high quality download in the format of your choice. In fact if you order the CD you automatically get the download too.

The price of the album is £5. We really hope that you enjoy this album, please pass this news on to any friends that you think might be interested.

Some songs you write; some songs you’re given. ‘Blues Like a Prayer’ is a song that came to me at a time when I needed a miracle and I feel it was a gift from God. The lyrics and melody came first and only afterwards did I realise I’d written a song in waltz time with a minor V chord in the chorus – very unlike me. As soon as it was finished I knew it would be the title track. I also knew it would be fantastic to have a Gospel choir singing on it and, thanks to our friends at God’s House International Centre in Bristol, that became a reality.

As with the first two CDs, this is once again a mixture of originals and re-packaged traditional Gospel Blues songs. We have ‘Jesus on the Mainline’, Blind Willie Johnson’s ‘Soul of a Man’ and ‘Motherless Children’ and a mash-up of Rev Gary Davis’ ‘Great Change’ and ‘Steppin’ Out’, as famously covered by Eric Clapton & John Mayall on the Beano album.

The originals include ‘God Meant it For Good’ a retelling of the story of Joseph complete with a Wah-Wah drenched riff, and the swinging ‘Good Woman Blues’ with lyrics from Andy, by way of Proverbs 31. ‘When You Fall’ and ‘Squeaky Clean’ were two songs I’d written some time ago and forgotten about. Fortunately, I rediscovered them in time to make it onto the CD. Finally, the Gary Moore influenced ‘Lady Gets the Blues’ is for Deb, my wife and my inspiration. ENJOY!

We started work on the third Tim Crahart Blues Band album today, at Red Rock Studios, near Pengam. I had intended to tweet throughout the day with progress reports, but the lack of serviceable wifi in the valleys put the mockers on that one, so instead here’s a short blog about the tracks that will be on the album and how we got on today.

As with our two previous albums, “No Drinkin’, No Cheatin’, No Shootin’” and “Isaiah 61 Revisited, we prepared and rehearsed the new material thoroughly, so that we can progress things very quickly once we are in the studio and keep to as much of a live feel as is practical. The new album will be titled “Blues Like A Prayer” and brings together our usual mix of original compositions and classic gospel blues given a fresh feel.

There are eleven band tracks on this album and a couple of solo tracks from Tim too. Today in the studio we put all the drum tracks down for the whole album and a fair chunk of the bass tracks too. We’ll be going back tomorrow so I can finish off the bass work and we can start on the guitar tracks. We’ll have the whole album finished and up for sale very quickly.

Some of the original tracks, that you may have already heard us play live, include;

“Good Woman Blues”, a cool swing blues, I wrote the lyrics for this one, based on Proverbs ch. 31.

“Lady Gets The Blues”, our tribute to the style of the late great Gary Moore

“God Meant It For Good”, a chunky, Hendrix-style rocker, it tells the story of Joseph, but this ain’t no technicolor dream coat!

“Blues Like A Prayer”, the title track, a no holds barred gospel wail.

These are interwoven with familiar classics like;

“Soul Of A Man” from our favourite gospel artist, Blind Willie Johnson, this classic has been covered by heaps of artists; Eric Burdon, Bruce Cockburn, Maria Muldaur and most recently Tom Jones. Now it’s our turn.

“Motherless Children”, you’re probably familiar with Clapton’s funky workout of this track from the “461 Ocean Boulevard” album. We thought it need a more soulful approach and yes, it’s another Blind Willie Johnson tune.

“Jesus On The Mainline”, the origins of this song are lost, but the earliest recording was by Mississippi Fred McDowell. Ry Cooder recorded a famous version and the song also featured in “Blues Brothers 2000”.

I’ll post another blog at the end of tomorrow’s session to keep you up to date with progress, watch this space for the release date soon.

Last Christmas, we gave you a song, and the very next day, you could give it away!

This year, to save you from tears, we’re giving the same one away again!

In other words…

The Tim Crahart Blues Band‘s 2012 Christmas single is being relaunched this year. We loved it so much we wanted to give you all a chance to go back and grab it in time for this year’s festive season.

Last year we gave it away as a free download and this year, guess what, it’s FREE! (it’s always been free, but downloads tended to drop off during the summer!

The song, ‘Christmas Day’, is an original track, written by Tim on 2o12. We recorded it at Red Rock Studios in the South Wales Valleys and had great fun. Tim and Harvey’s kids got involved too and we threw some bells at it too.

Please do grab yourself a download and if you can share this post with your friends, maybe they’ll download it too. We’re not trying to compete with X-Factor or AC/DC, we just want to share what we think is a great song, hope you love it!

Thanks to a fantastic arrangement with an online music company called Doxmedia, run by the fabulous Keith Dixon, both of the Tim Crahart Blues Band albums are now available to purchase as downloads from the iTunes and Amazon online stores. Whilst we are not expecting to become millionaires through this enterprise (yet!) it is a great way for us to get our music out there to a wider audience.

Additionally my own solo bass album from 2011, “Patches Of Coloured Light” is available from these sites too.

All the albums are still available from the excellent ‘Bandcamp’ site too (and always will be).